Remy Gabalda/APParatroopers guard their military barracks in Carcassonne, southwestern France. A military shooting demonstration in Aude left 16 people wounded, including children, when real bullets were used instead of blank ones. (AP)

Those injured included five children, according to the BBC. Four people were seriously hurt in the shooting, including one of the children, although three have now stabilized. One man who was shot in the chest remains in critical condition.

Some reports state that 17 audience members were wounded in the incident, while others say 16.

The soldier who fired the shots is being detained, although the incident was almost certainly “an unintentional fault,” said Col. Benoit Royal, head of the French army’s information service.

Authorities are still investigating, however.

“I cannot rule out anything because we don’t know what might be going on in a man’s head,” said Defense Minister Herve Morin, who also said that an experienced soldier shouldn’t confuse blanks with real bullets.

The shooting occurred during a public demonstration of hostage-freeing techniques at a military barracks in Aude, in southern France. The soldiers had acted out the demonstration five times already Sunday but the sixth time, real bullets began flying and observers fell to the ground.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy “expressed his horror at the incident" and is awaiting the results of an investigation, the BBC reports.

“There is nothing that would make one think he had behavioral or psychological problems,” said Defense Minister Herve Morin of the soldier who shot the real bullets. The soldier’s name has not yet been released. The BBC reports that 17 people were wounded in the incident on Sunday.

85 people died when a fighter jet flew through a crowd of spectators during a military air show in Lviv, Ukraine, in 2002. An investigation of the incident revealed that the plane’s pilots had ignored orders and performed unauthorized stunts.

Last week the Supreme Court declared a Washington, D.C., ban on handguns unconstitutional under the Second Amendment—the first time the high court has defined the scope of the text since its 1791 drafting. Some worry the decision could lead to more gun-related injuries.